Syrian opposition to open office in Turkey next week

Syria’s opposition is expected to open an office in Turkey next week as part of a drive to open several missions around the world to greater present the demands of anti-government dissidents.

Syria’s opposition is expected to open an office in Turkey next week as part of a drive to open several missions around the world to greater present the demands of anti-government dissidents.

“[The Syrian opposition] will open an office in Turkey in one week’s time. I told [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad that we would let the Syrian opposition be organized in Turkey. I said that we were a democratic country and could not hamper [them],” daily Hürriyet quoted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as telling a group of journalists. The decision to open an office in Turkey was taken after representatives of the Syrian National Council held meetings with Turkish officials in Ankara recently, a member of the Syrian opposition told the Hürriyet Daily News on Monday on condition of anonymity. The opposition representatives, who are closer to the Muslim Brotherhood than others, are expected to hold a meeting Thursday in Istanbul, the source also said. Two opposition groups were established in Turkey at the end of August; namely, the National Council, which is seen as more Islamist and the 94-member National Council of Syrian Transition, which is headed by Burhan Ghaliyoun, a Paris-based academic. In its meeting in August, the National Council decided to form a foreign office, launch a satellite television broadcast and establish a legal office to work on future court procedures. Meanwhile, Syrian tanks pounded a town on a strategic highway overnight, injuring at least three people in Homs, Reuters said. Meanwhile, the official websites of seven major Syrian cities and several government departments have been hacked, according to Al-Jazeera.